Polar Bears

Sorry it has been a while since I blogged. I have been pretty busy lately! Besides, I got transferred from my job in the city last July 31 so I haven't been in the city nearly as much lately.

Way back in WWI, there was a group of soldiers, mostly from the Detroit area, who were sent to Russia to fight the Bolsheviks. This group, the 339 Infantry Regiment, was also known as the "Polar Bears." There is a plaque honoring this group at the Detroit Zoo by the polar bear exhibit, and also an exhibit at the Military History Museum in Frankenmuth.

My Dad's Uncle Louie (baptized as Ludwig Carolus Goeddeke) was a soldier in this unit that fought in Russia. The photo is of him in uniform in 1918.

In 1930, a group of 5 of these Polar Bears went back to Russia to recover the bodies of several of their fallen comrades. They brought many remains back and many of them are now buried at the White Chapel Memorial Cemetery in Troy, near the statue of a polar bear. Apparently a group of surviving members has been having a memorial service every year at this site since 1930, and now that the survivors are all gone now, their families are continuing this Memorial Day service.

I went there this morning for the service at 11 AM. My Uncle Mike was there too so we chatted a bit. I told him I found Louie's draft card on the internet (click on the photo to enlarge) and it says he was a "vegetable peddler" at a grocer at the corner of Maple & Riopelle streets in Detroit. My Uncle Mike says that one of his first jobs was at the Eastern Market, and while there at work ran into a guy who knew Uncle Louie. He said Uncle Louie was the kind of guy who would get into barroom brawls and take people on in wrestling and boxing. Then he said he remembers a picture of my great-grandparent's family, with a young Vincent (my Grandpa) and an Uncle Louie - a blurred Uncle Louie in the photo, leading my Uncle Mike to deduce that he was "tipsy" and drinking prior to posing for the photo. Some time ago I was talking with the wife of Louie's nephew Paul, Gloria, who said she thought Louie came back from the war shellshocked and that is what started him drinking, although I don't think she knew him before the war, so I think she was just repeating something she might have heard years ago. I do remember a story that one time Louie stopped by my Grandpa's house while he was gone, when he still had young children at home, and my Grandma, per my Grandpa's instructions, refused to open the door and proceeded to close all the drapes, too. I guess my Dad's Uncle Louie liked his liquor, and that caused him a relatively early death at about age 51 in 1950. I remember my Grandma mentioning one time there was only one car of people at his funeral. So I guess I think it is important to remember Louie, not only because of his military service, but because "there but for the grace of God go I...."

For more information about the Polar Bear Association please visit http://pbma.grobbel.org